Stewart O'Nan

“The story is always in service to the characters, and is only as long or short, or neat or ragged as it needs to be.”

“Why was he drawn to complicated women, or were all women--all people, finally--complicated?”

“She had a vision of the two of them trapped on a tiny raft surrounded by miles of open water. It would be a kind of test, like surviving on a desert island--but that's what a marriage was, wasn't it? They would have to help each other or die.”

“No one writes a great book every time out, or even a good book.”

“Local teenagers killed in a car crash is a suburban legend, a stock plot line.”

“When I'm writing, I try to have the mask of my character on as I'm walking through the world.”